Midwest Express Airlines has announced plans to acquire up to 50 Boeing 717-200s, together with 40 Embraer ERJ135/140/145 regional jets. The jets will re-equip Midwest's wholly owned subsidiary, Skyway Airlines, in a major fleet expansion potentially worth over $1.1 billion.
The order for 20 717s and another 30 options will come as a welcome boost to a programme that has a lacklustre sales record. Midwest's memorandum of understanding, once finalised into a contract, will increase sales of the twinjet to 174 with another 177 options. The carrier has opted for new build jets rather than acquire Trans World Airways' remaining order of 20 which new owner American Airlines has not yet committed to taking.
Midwest selected the 717 over the competing Airbus A319 after concluding the aircraft better lent itself to the carrier's trademark two-by-two leather seat lay-out. The aircraft will be configured for 88 passengers compared to the more usual 106-seat arrangement.
Deliveries of the 717s will start in February 2003 and will run at around one aircraft every two months through to 2005. The Milwaukee-based carrier plans to use the 717s to replace its 24 Douglas DC-9-10/30s, but has yet to decide a retirement schedule. The 717s will complement Midwest's remaining 10 larger MD-80s.
Regional jet deliveries will be paced similarly to the 717, but starting a year earlier in March 2002. The first deliveries will be 44-seat ERJ-140s, but the order can cover the smaller 35-seat ERJ-135 or larger 50-seat ERJ-145. The aircraft will eventually replace Skyway's 15 Beech 1900D turboprops.
The Embraer order will almost certainly displace Skyway's new fleet of Fairchild Dornier 328JETs, which currently number seven with one more on order. "We've still not decided on the 328JETs, but it makes no sense to keep them in the longer-term," says Midwest. The airline is currently in arbitration with Fairchild over its decision to scrap development of the stretch 428JET, which it had ordered.
Source: Flight International
